HRM Performances Announced

what the tide brought in

created and performed by DaPoPo Academy

Sophie Fong, Holly Winter, Aaron Andreino, and Ali Richardson

Four strangers with seemingly little in common except for a stretch of garbage-littered beach they all frequent. Moments of each others' lives shared at the water's edge.

How deep will they go?

Public Performances:

April 2, 2009 @ 8 pm
Dartmouth High School, 95 Victoria Rd., Dartmouth, NS

April 5, 2009 @ 7 pm
Capt. William Spry Community Ctr., 10 Kidston Rd, Spryfield, NS

April 6, 2009 @ 8 pm
The Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St., Halifax, NS*

Admission by donation. Doors open 30 minutes pre-show.

* Seating is limited for April 6th performance, therefore reservations are strongly recommended for this show only. Contact: dapopo@dapopo.org or 209-3473 to reserve April 6th or for more information.

Presented with the support of Nova Scotia's Department of Tourism Culture & Heritage and the numerous individual donors, sponsors and supporters of the Berlin Project.

Last Days

Schedules easing up, premieres triumphantly performed, attentions finally turned to the city and people around us. The chance to investigate the grounds of the FEZ-Berlin, becoming children again spinning, climbing, playing keep-away, riding ziplines and flipping over nets.

Traditional cast photos taken on the seats at the Wulheide S-Bahn stop. Posing, having fun. Fun! Quick before the train comes!

Brunches, dinners, sights, sounds, days and nights. Separately, together; en masse or in small groups. Shopping. White shoes and a green coat, spectacular finds in a retro shoppe. Limited edition books from an independent seller. Gifts for friends.

Eating, playing, touring, oohing, aahing. A place called Cake. Bonding. Resting. Catching up on homework long ignored and Internet time much-desired.

Berlin by night: Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirsch on Ku'damm; a new memorial for Die Mauer (20 year anniversary of the fall of the wall); the Sony Centre space-age "I'm in a sci-fi movie" feeling; the Holocaust memorial looming silent gray eerie in the night; Brandenburg gate as a backdrop for "Ich bin der mann!"; and a climb up around the spiral of the Reichstag/Bundestag Dom singing "Hey Ho" and "Land of the Silver Birch"

Berlin by day: coffee and brunch at a funky place in Mitte; Annie Leibowitz photography exhibition at C/O gallery; exploration of the eclectic Tacheles property; dropping by the Berliner Ensemble but no tickets for Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder :(but Holly gets to go to Spring Awakening after we leave)
Our next to last night, the pleasure of making dinner for Garry's mum, Ann. Later joined by Flo, Florian and Toby for goodbyes.

The long trek home. Did we even go? The only evidence is left in hearts, minds and memories.

Playing at the FEZ

WHAT THE TIDE BROUGHT IN

with

AARON ANDREINO – TODD
SOPHIE FONG – KAREN
ALI RICHARDSON – CHRIS
HOLLY WINTER – BEATRICE

Today the four Academy players – Aaron, Sophie, Ali and Holly – gave a moving, sophisticated and riveting performance of their play in front of a captive and responsive audience of Abitur students.From the opening monologues through the scenes and dream sequences, Eric, Kim, Annie and I watched from our respective spots (in the audience, at the lighting board and at the piano), taking great joy in seeing the play unfold in front of its first real audience.


The script contains some sparkling dialogue, written and performed with honesty skill by the performer-creators.

We learn of four characters' hopes and fears; truth and lies; games and realities; prejudice and, ultimately, friendship.

Afterwards, during the Q&A session, members of the audience asked incisive questions about key moments.

As we moved into our workshops – Mythology & Theatre, Sound & Movement, Newspaper Theatre and Political Theatre – and finished our only fully booked day at the FEZ, we were sad it was over. Or nearly so.

Café Potsdam

Last night, a precedent: the first Café outside of Halifax. The eight of us trekked out to Potsdam on the S-Bahn, reviewing, projecting, anticipating. Upon arrival we embarked on a brief tour of Herr Liman's personal collection of Fluxus artifacts and documents.

The Café itself flew by. 25 tables to serve, upwards of 40 patrons – some with very little English. Everyone threw themselves into the fray, performing studied material, original material and improvising.

Willi, our tfk technician and friend, was one surprise guest. "The evening surpassed my expections", he raved. When all was said and sung, the museum wined and dined us. We rushed into two cabs to get to the Potsdam Hauptbahnhof in time for the last S-Bahn back to Berlin.
Performancs included scenes from Four Actors, Apocalypse, 13 Ways and What the Tide Brought In; songs, scenes, monolgues and soliloquies by MacLellan, McIvor, Jernigan, Betts, Schumann and Shakespeare; poetry, improvisation, sock puppets, and a closing 'Sextangle'.

Herr Liman, who showed himself pleased with the turn-out and the audience's positive response, extended an invitation to us to perform at the museum FLUXUS + again, next time we're in Berlin... 2011, perhaps?

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's to the FEZ we go..!

We make our way to the FEZ-Berlin through the woods for a 9:30 a.m. start, uniformly wearing our Fleischberg T-shirts, to launch the second day of the "Just say it!" Festival with our second of six 30 minute programs for the Opening Ceremonies. This includes some improv, sometimes calling on volunteers from the audience; some singing; and Holly "Hall Monitor" Winter and Ali "Alcatraz" Richardson stealing the show with their U-Bahn rap.

Eric worked all day Wednesday with the Academy on What the Tide Brought In, their hour-long original creation, delving deeply into character, intention and subtext, building on the work they had done with Annie in the Dachboden-loft.

Annie and Kim design lights for the show after a brief introduction to the board by one of the FEZ technicians, Dirk. Annie builds the cues, as Kim develops the design, enjoying the technical/creative side of things. Thursday: the Academy rehearses more in the afternoon. All work, all play...
... with necessary food breaks: Schnitzel, Wurst, Pommes and particularly flaccid noodles.

Today (after leading another Opening Ceremony), Eric's first scheduled workshop, Mythology and Theatre,
was canceled because the teacher whose class was to attend was ill. The Academy remained at the FEZ for a Cue to Cue and Tech Dress with Eric, Kim and Annie.

Tonight we will be running our Café material, creating a priority list, preparing for tomorrow's performance at the museum FLUXUS + in Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, several hours flight time removed from our Halifax Café cast who performed this Thursday... how'd it go, guys?

Leftovers and New Dishes

Monday - Kim runs over town turning off forgotten heaters at the Cold Place; getting a 40€ fine because the U-Bahn pass expires at 3 am, not actually a full 7 days from the time of validation; getting per diems from the bank and new passes for all.

Garry, Eric, Ann and Kim shuttle off to Potsdam, southwest of Berlin to the museum FLUXUS for a pre-Cafe meeting with Herr Limann and a peek at the performance spaces. Dinner on the lake with Ann before returning.

The Academy writes, reorganizes and presents their show to Annie who works with them through the afternoon and is impressed. When they are joined post-dinner by Garry and Kim, the atmosphere is relaxed, satisfied and enthusiastic about the work of the day.

Much chat, perusing of TIP the events calendar - Brecht plays being performed at the Berliner Ensemble!!! - our own entry for Apocalypse one below (in good company), flashy displays of bruising and battle wounds for pictorial documentation and then public displays of affection.

We had much fun.


Bumps and bruises. Someone tell Rhys!

Closing

Sunday - We said good-bye to TFK, Four Actors and Apocalypse tonight. Experience proves once again that the ensemble that works together consistently and intensively day-to-day, works together consistently and intensively on stage. Wishing for another go at the shows in Halifax... especially with added bits of Apocalypse and the new energy in Four Actors.

Ann has many photos of the shows and Garry remarked how undeniably idetifiable Four Actors is. The poses, the staging, the costuming... clearly it is that show.

Huge thank yous to Holly, Ali, Sophie and Aaron for working with us tirelessly over the run.

Earlier in the day, the Academy worked independently in the "Cold Place," then lugged belongings back to Kreuzberg. Late afternoon rehearsal plans were scrapped when our space at TFK was usurped - these things happen, and continue to happen and I celebrate everyone's demonstrated flexibility each time.

We ended up going for a late lunch/early dinner and had a very relaxed, enjoyable time at a Spanish restaurant. Great food, great conversation... lasted hours and when we did finally make a move to leave, the manager gave us after-dinner liqueurs and espressos and plates of fruit drizzled with chocolate. On the house. I had no idea why an establishment would do such a thing, but Garry said perhaps it was because we lingered and enjoyed our meal and our company.

One week in...

Yesterday (Saturday, Feb 21), after the Academy dropped their things off at the now-nicknamed "Cold Flat," found a cafe in the Neukolin district that cooked eggs, went on a spree at the 1€ store - 10 pairs of socks for Sophie who has 'run out' - Garry and I took them on their first visit to the FEZ-Berlin.

The complex is a hot-spot of continual programming for children, youth and families and is located in far east Berlin, in the former communist territory. It was built in the sixties to cater to those children who showed an aptitude for the arts. Hearing Garry speak of the Soviet approach to cultivating and training young citizens according to talents recognized in their youth, it sounded somewhat Utopian. In the Soviet society, a child who could sing or draw or act was as valuable and nurtured as much as a child who could solve math problems or was interested in science.

Of course, once you were in the proscribed track, that was it and when you grew into your career your sole purpose was to serve the State. So... artistry could be, and indeed was, censored and dicated by the State. DaPoPo could never have done a piece such as "Four Actors" which is, at times, critical of our history and politics. But I digress...

The U-Bahn drops you at the edge of the wooded area on which the FEZ is located. It is a lovely walk through a forested path, though I heard some comments along the lines of "This is really far!" and the scuff of tired sneakered feet dragging through the snow. This exhaustion was apparently forgotten when we encountered the extensive play areas with unusual equipment like geohex jungle gyms, a t-bar zip-line, whilrling disks, swings... this led to one of my favorite things: the musical arbor, a structure constructed of twisted branches into a peak, with open arches and a magical centre space. Sophie said it felt a little 'Blair Witch' but then they all found the zylophonic tiles in the middle and jumping together made some tinkling music.

Outside the main building a necessary stop at the crepe stand... käse und schinkel for most, Ali enjoying käse, tomaten und kräutersalz. And yes, we know what that means. Delicious.

Inside, we encountered an Arabian Nights themeland with hundreds of small costumed children enjoying various activites such as cooking Middle Eastern treats, learning to belly dance, listening to music, watching stage shows, face painting and more. Ali signed the guestbook on behalf of DaPoPo, and we had a bit of a wait while our room for rehearsal was sorted out.

A few hours later, and a newly revised and more vigorous work schedule leading up to the festival, we went back to Kreuzberg for refueling at the now-favored vegetarian restaurant Cafe V, where a German singer entertained with strangely rearranged popular American music sung in English.
Then it was off to TFK for the second night of performances. Four Actors was very enjoyable for us tonight. We finally found the necessary openness to discovery in the moments where it is demanded, and new things were indeed discovered. In the audience, Chris (of airport pick-up and chauffering fame) and his wife Alison, Ann again and a gaggle of Garry's friends from BGT days. Much buzz about the up-coming Cafe DaPoPo in Potsdam!

Snow showers

Saturday morning. We've had a very busy week with rehearsals, settling into spaces - theatrical and otherwise, neighborhoods becoming familiar, eating on the go and going going going. Good sleeps but full and late days.

The Academy has worked on their piece, we've had one Cafe rehearsal and the remainder of the time has been spent getting Four Actors and Apocalypse in front of an audience. Holly and Sophie learned the lighting board from Willy at the Theaterforum Kreuzberg and designed and set the cues for both shows, largely based on what could be done without a significant rehang/refocus. Ali stepped in as stage management, with assistance from Aaron. They are all so good-humored and willing to just... do! Such a pleasure to have them working with us.
Eric's friends from Halifax, Max and Molly, who have been in Germany for several months arrived for a visit and saw technical runs and offered feedback. Holly's friend Neta came in from Copenhagen for opening night (yes, Uncommon Grounds Neta!) . Neta said it was weird to walk into a theatre in Berlin and see Halifax faces... like being on Argyle Street.

Today, the group is scattered all over Berlin. Some with Ann, Annie with her friend Sussanne somewhere, myself at Flo's, the Academy relocated temporarily for the weekend at Jen's empty apartment... and also getting their first look at the FEZ later today when we go there for a rehearsal.

Two more performance nights at TFK and the focus will re-shift to the Academy show and preparation for the Just Say It Festival. It will be strange and difficult to let Four Actors and Apocalypse go...